Postdoctoral Research Associate Position (m/f/d) – Surgical AI

Postdoctoral Research Associate Position (m/f/d) – Surgical AI

at the Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery and the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health

The position is to be filled from October 1, 2026 on a full- or part-time basis, initially limited to 24 months, with the option of extension and longer-term collaboration. Compensation is based on the pay scale for the public sector (TV-L) and may be classified in pay grade E13 , provided you meets the personal qualifications.

This position is part of a 5-year research program funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) that aims to develop generalizable, clinically relevant AI approaches for surgical video analysis, working with one of the worlds largest prospective surgical video registries. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate, you will contribute to evaluating and optimizing the real-world performance of state-of-the-art AI models for surgical video understanding.

The position is embedded in an interdisciplinary and international research environment within the “Surgical Artificial Intelligence” research group led by Dr. Fiona Kolbinger, which is jointly affiliated with the Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery and the Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health at TU Dresden. The group works at the intersection of AI development, clinical surgery, and translational research, with the goal of developing and clinically evaluating AI tools that improve surgical care.

Your responsibilities:

Design and lead research projects on AI for surgical video understanding, including vision-language model benchmarking and optimization, clinical translation (early-stage clinical feasibility studies and randomized controlled trials), and human-AI interaction in surgery

Collaborate with national and international partners

Mentor graduate and undergraduate student researchers within the group

Prepare journal publications and presentations at national and international conferences

Contribute to grant writing and scientific dissemination

Your profile:

Doctoral degree in computer science, biomedical engineering, electrical/computer engineering, software engineering, or a related field

Strong background in computer science, electrical engineering, software engineering, data science, computer vision, LLMs/VLMs, human-AI interaction, and/or a strong interest in clinical surgery, interdisciplinary oncology, and translational research

Ability to time-manage and lead research projects independently, ability to mentor junior researchers, ability to identify and communicate the need for support

Collaborative and curious mindset with an interest in clinical or translational applications at the intersection of disciplines, in particular clinical surgery/surgical oncology and data science/AI

Excellent English communication skills, willingness to learn/knowledge of German is a plus

We offer:

An excellent interdisciplinary research environment with direct access to clinical data and expertise

The opportunity to be part of a young, ambitious, growing team of interdisciplinary researchers

Scientific flexibility through innovative, externally funded projects spanning all areas of translational surgical AI and human-AI interaction

Career development opportunities and mentoring, regular conference attendance, publication opportunities, national and international collaborations

Working from home is generally possible in coordin